Borneo: Lankayan

For me to travel between Seoul and Lankayan, a small coral reef island in the Sulu Sea off the coast of Borneo--and, apparently, even closer to some islands belonging to the Philippines--required planes, trains, automobiles and a boat.  An international flight brought me to Kota Kinabalu, the capital city of the Sabah, one of two of Malaysia's states on the island of Borneo.  The next morning, with my "party," we flew to Sandakan.

My "party" at the entrance of the airport in Sandakan.

From the airport in Sandakan, we transferred to the Sandakan Yacht Club, where we boarded a speed boat for a rather rough--rainy season sea conditions--hour and a half ride to Lankayan Island Dive Resort.  With that ninety minute sea voyage, though, one transits into a world at the rim of primeval.

By foot, Lankayan can be circumnavigated in fifteen minutes, and the tide determines whether the entire walk transpires on sandy beach or with overs and unders of tropical undergrowth and the trunks of palms seemingly predisposed for horizontal positioning rather than vertical.  We walked that walk multiple times in a day, in rain and shine, at low tide and high tide and in between.

Everyday we did some lounging, fully embracing "island life." 

 Laura and I lived in this chalet.

 Our beach.

 The interior of our chalet.

A splendid panorama of a night sky to behold from this location, too!

The dining hall--verandas with a view...and WiFi (okay, not so primeval)!

We also snorkeled, and some dived; afterall, Lankayan is a dive resort of some renown. 

I am having a bit of trouble with one of my fins!

Yes, we snorkled with these, but they preferred not to be close to us!

We kayaked, too.

 Laura and I on our tour around the island via kayak.

And we caught two serendipitous moment.  Lankayan, situated in the sea turtle corridor and part of a marine protected area, is a nesting ground for sea turtles, both green and hawksbill.  One night we had the good fortune to witness a releasing of just-hatched sea turtles.

The second night we watched a turtle lay her eggs and then return to the sea.

After the turtles lay their eggs, they are collected and taken to a safer place in the center of the island until they hatch, at which time they are released to the sea.

Both experiences filled me with such reverential awe.  So immersed in the worlds that we humans labor both to construct and to live within, we are often oblvious to the beauty and the struggle encompassed in worlds adjacent, even connected, with our own.

Lankayan days filled in some of the empty spaces we forget we carry within us; they were magical.